No Where Else
by Catharsiss-BridgetteHayden
Summary: After the war, Harry returns to Hogwarts and he brings Severus Snape with him. Together, they give the castle a new start, and a new student. AU, SLASH, MPREG, one-shot.


Summary: After the war, Harry returns to Hogwarts and he brings Severus Snape with him. Together, they give the castle a new start, and a new student. AU, one-shot. Notes: Disclaimer: I make no money from this, I'm just playing with these beautiful characters.

WARNINGS! AU, SLASH, MPREG, one-shot.

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Work Text:

When no one was looking, Severus held his child as if the gods themselves might become jealous of his son's light, and attempt to take him away. Minerva saw it from where she stood. She was not one to go about spying on her professors, but the sight of him so happy with his new son, when he had the terrace all to himself, was worth the compromise in dignity. Unguarded, Severus's smile was as beautiful as the object of his attention. When the infant opened its green eyes and lit up, reacting to the deep resonance within his father's velvet voice, Severus's laughter echoed off stone walls like an array of chimes to McGonagall's ears. She'd lived to see it all. Severus was finally happy. And it was about damn time too.

She let herself relive those few weeks ago…

No one could work, not that day. School work was simply not an option. Too much energy charged the air. Too much excitement and expectation. Even the portraits were in on it, crowding into frames with hushed whispers and guarded messages as to the status of someone famous residing within those walls. No student with any regard for their school's historical course, of its celebrated faculty, could stay focused on the texts of their books for more than twenty minutes at a time. No teacher, keenly aware of events having brought them to the significance of this day, felt like enforcing the normal curriculum and schedules. Today was too great a day for that. For none of them ever truly believed it possible, let alone probable, that this day would come. This was the day that Severus's and Harry's son was born at Hogwarts.

Wizarding press asserted their rights to camp on Hogwarts' grounds until their appeal for comments and photos, met with approval. _Headmaster_ McGonagall locked them out and made them wait indefinitely. "They are a new family and they need their privacy," she snapped, relishing her authority to keep them away, and giving the castle extra time to absorb the monumental event while sheltering Severus and Harry inside.

Surviving the war was blessing aplenty. Rebuilding was triumph over all that they'd lost. Moving on, was the spirit of their magic rising out of its own ashes. None dared to hope for more beyond that. But there it was. Not only had the surviving heroes returned to Hogwarts to help stabilize the next generation of students in the aftermath of change, they had done so in the capacity of husband and husband. That was shock enough. Then news of Harry's condition completely unraveled public opinion of what the two must really be like. When a male wizard chooses to have a child, he usually does so discretely. Not Harry. Keeping one protective eye on him at all times, Severus made sure Harry came and went unaccosted by those attracted to his fame.

The couple could've had their baby in the privacy of their off-campus home, or the most modern-equipped facility in their culture. But Harry seemed hellbent on giving birth in the castle, telling no one when his contractions started, and teaching a whole day of classes before being heard erupting into argument with Severus in the corridor.

"Please trust me. If there were anything wrong, I'd tell you."

Severus held up an object that looked like a timepiece. "My findings say otherwise. There is something wrong. And you, Harry Potter, are not telling me. I've used a drop of your blood to power this device. It keeps track of your vital signs. Need I remind you that I can also monitor my child's heart rate, which slows precisely when yours speeds up? I know the pattern of active contractions when I see them. I've crafted the device to keep me informed, which makes me a little irate to think that you might not disclose the true nature of your state to me."

The two were so engrossed in getting the other's will to bend, they did not notice a third of the student body stopping to listen. Everyone knew that Harry had to be close to term, though Severus made him wear robes that kept one guessing what must lay beneath it. Severus had charmed Harry's clothes to discourage anyone from running their hands over his stomach without an invitation to do so. Harry's pride countered the charm by filling anyone standing near him with overwhelming inspiration and curiosity to touch the slight swell beneath his robe. Poor Neville Longbottom, considering being the carrier for his wife, to protect her health, had given into the temptation to touch one evening in the Hall. He had signed on at the school as Professor Sprout's Assistant. In the middle of their conversation, his hand landed just at the top of Harry's stomach, and the entire room, portraits and all, held their breath as they watched Severus's dark eyes narrow at him. Leave it to Neville's innocence to cross this carefully drawn boundary. Instead of brushing Neville's hand away, and before Severus could intervene, Harry grabbed it.

"Not here," he said, beaming. He lowered Neville's hand to the lowest part of his midriff, just below his navel. "It's right here."

Everyone in the Hall blushed deeply, along with Neville, but couldn't look away. Nervous giggles, and stutters of amazement escaped Neville's shock. "It's really in there. It's really alive and moving."

His awe spoke for everyone who'd longed to be invited to touch Harry that way for months, but were scared away by the warning looks Severus gave them. Apparently, since Harry's happiness was felt throughout the Hall, as if he too had been waiting to make his public reveal, Severus allowed Neville's trespass to go unchallenged.

Now, with Harry and Severus failing to hide their crises, or even caring what others thought, in the face of their dilemma, none of the eavesdropping students were going to miss this argument for the world.

"Harry, I beg you. And you know that I do not beg. You are carrying my life. You hold all the cards. Whatever scheme has you insisting that nothing is wrong, you must swallow your pride and give it up this instant. At this rate, you will not carry to term. The child will be four weeks premature, and you mustn't risk that."

"It's a false alarm. I've had them before."

"Not this severe."

"And how dare you accuse me of jeopardizing our child's life. This is exactly the control issue I warned you about. Hogwarts is my home. If I want to stay here until the last minute, until the last contraction then I will."

"This is a school. It is no place to have a child. Too much suffering and death has taken place here."

"Yeah? Well what the hell happens at a hospital? Death and suffering. Hogwarts is the happiest place I know. We overcame everything here."

Severus denied Harry's point. "I'm only here because you wanted to come back. Harry, I did terrible things here. I don't want to contaminate my child with that. He'll be new, and entirely innocent. I, at least, want to give him a clean, perfect environment to be born in."

Behind his glasses, Harry's eyes filled with pity. "As great and magic as this kid's going to be, this is the perfect environment. I came back to make sure he was born on this soil, and that the spirit of this place flows through his veins. You might be ashamed of your actions here, but I am not. I love this place. I put everything I am into this place. So did you. Don't fight me on this. There is no greater, magical castle on Earth for me, and I'm staying."

His eyes lingered on Severus's drawn mouth. "Sev, please. Let me have this." He strained up and placed a kiss on the Professor's lips. Beneath Harry's, those lips had to soften. They had to relent. And students who realized how privileged they were to witness this display, which was not done, drank it all in. They knew their history books, while perhaps one day mentioning these two epic teachers, would never record a word of this.

Harry walked away from it. Severus bowed his head, defeated.

The entire school maneuvered around them, giving them room to live out their drama and secretly hoping to see more. Harry's pregnancy inspired that kind of mass participation and eagerness that turned a blind eye to the rules. It was a time for celebrating, not for enforcing policy, and everyone tiptoed around the arguments between them.

The baby, however, did not ask or require anyone's permission to be born where and when it wanted. Severus's suspense was awarded that very night. He followed Harry's every move, finally locking him in their quarters until Harry could hide his physical pain no longer. It was too late to call for Pomfrey, or the assistance of Mediwizards. Harry's exacting stubbornness timed the arrival of the baby at precisely the moment when Severus had no choice but to deliver his son. It would be mere moments later, when looking at the pale, dark haired, perfect form of him, that they would both realize this is what they'd wanted all along.

Harry had outdone himself. It was gift enough to give Severus such a delicate expression of life and innocence. But to let Severus be the one to deliver it, was even more. So much more. Five pounds of trembling, tissue-thin fingers and toes kicking, a pristine tulip of a pink mouth, and someone already clearly defined within the baby's open-eyed focus and expression, stared back at them. Intelligence blinked at them. Prince Severus "Aaron" Potter-Snape came into the, too cold world, frustrated, as evidenced by the tight place between his unformed eyebrows and the pout that came and went as he worked enough oxygen into his tiny lungs to push out his first broken, segmented cry of displeasure. Color flushed his entire pink body.

Harry and Severus looked at each other, neither believing it. The child surpassed both their expectations, as if they hadn't quite believed there was a soul above who would actually sign up for the job of belonging to their family. To Harry, through a fog of pain, the baby's cries sounded more and more like triumph, and not just that he'd been pulled from a warm and cozy place. As Harry relished growing strength within the cries, Severus pressed his tapered fingers to the infant's dark wet hair. So black and abundant for a newborn.

"It's okay, little one. I'm going to take care of you."

His voice worked its magic. That bottomless octave, which Harry felt in his chest, soothed both him and the child. All cries fell silent. Prince Severus trusted the rich, deep tones of assurances speaking to him and closed his eyes. He resumed the slumber of the unborn.

Headmaster McGonagall knew the exact minute the child was born. Loyal portraits had spied on Harry and kept her informed. From his frame, Dumbledore winked at her. The other Headmasters passed around cigars. They all congratulated themselves on the safe arrival of another one of them. This one, they agreed, was special. They knew things about the Prince line of magic, the Snape and the Potter strains, that even McGonagall did not know, and what seeds had been planted in the past, to be reaped in the future. McGonagall sipped her sherry, taking satisfaction in the ability to give the new parents their privacy before patiently waiting for Severus to let her, and everyone else, in on the fact that Hogwarts had a new student. Eleven years ineligible, but inevitably a student born to take his place in their world of magic.

So many students and teachers wanted to peek at the child, that visiting privileges were arranged two days after. Harry was made comfortable in the Great Hall, seated among all of his old friends, gifts, and a bassinet beside him. Severus stood over it, guarding it with his body and his drawn wand, allowing no one to touch the child.

"You may look," he announced with measured words. "Suffice it to say that if all goes well today, then the following week a few of you may be permitted to touch."

He had hardly finished his sentence, eyes glaring, before Harry lifted the baby and placed it into Neville's arms. McGonagall was there to lend her assistance in restraining Severus, who watched his child being subjected to every germ-infested, dewy-eyed threat in the school. He knew their astonishment and open-mouthed stares were attributed to Harry's essence and characteristics within the child. He knew that they, like him, couldn't quite believe something so amazing in its newness, so utterly beautiful and helpless, could come from one so dark and menacing, as they saw him.

Harry's hold on his arm tried to tell him that no one saw him like that anymore. The jig was up. Once Severus's story got out, their wedding kiss made public, and their ringed fingers entwined on the cover of The Daily Prophet, no one was ever going to see him in that Death Eater light ever again. If they did, they were not going to be easily convinced. But Severus's own PTSD followed him from the war, and he could not be convinced entirely, that none of these people meant any harm to his child. Not only was he not supposed to have lived, he was not supposed to win Harry and certainly not supposed to be blessed with the birth of a child between them.

He was pretty sure some people in the room still wanted to see him dead, which was why he intended to stay on at Hogwarts for as long as he could. Wizards of his mastery could live to be quite old without showing it, and he had to make sure his and Harry's son attended without incident in a postwar climate.

It was Luna, who's gentle observation did the most good in calming his fears. "Oh my," she said as she cradled the baby. "You must've been a pretty baby, Professor Snape. He looks just like you. I think he'll have Harry's eyes, but that's definitely your beautiful, put-upon frown."

Blood pressure beneath Severus's collar, visibly decreased. He'd wanted the honor of being seen in the child, but wasn't sure of what that might incite in others. He heard her implicit meaning, 'We can love you too, and we will.'

Harry squeezed his hand and convinced him to let their friends hold the baby for another half hour.

Now, weeks after the event, McGonagall caved in to Harry's insistence that he could assist the other teachers or make himself useful for at least two hours a day, while his body recovered and his brain adapted to actually being a parent. She knew that, while he was in love with his baby, he simply wanted fresh air and adult conversation. She saw that he got it, and gave his escort of two house elves strict orders to see him back to his and Severus's living quarters as soon as his two hours were up. One could not hasten recovery. And although he acted well enough, Harry was still too pallid for her liking. She was reminded of how he'd hid his contractions and suffered in silence simply to have his say in where the baby was born.

If she'd known it meant that much to him, she would've done everything in her power to see that he was properly tended to, legalities aside. When all was said and done, she realized this was one of the greatest gifts he could've given her. Not his child, but the sight of Severus so happy. As young as Severus was by her standards, he was still the oldest, closest friend she had at Hogwarts. They had weathered Dumbledore's schemes together, and bore the brunt of every risk and failure that his brilliant mind could not abate.

And now Severus was waltzing with his infant son's head against his chest. He hummed. His graceful body actually moved in time to a melody coming from his throat. Sunlight dappled his hair and put a golden gloss on his skin. If anyone was in love with their new baby, it was him. She had no memory of ever seeing him happy. Not when he was a student, and not as a teacher. The closest she had ever come, were their one on one discussions. Rare, relaxed moments hinted that Severus could find contentment in certain company. The sight of him dancing with an arm full of soft blanket and squirming infant, flurried her heart. She reached out to cling to the column hiding her.

Severus's feet took care to step lightly as they danced in the sun and waltzed their way around the parameter of the terrace. She thought she recognized the tune, Figlio Perduto, the operatic rendition of a father trying to keep an Elf King from stealing his son. She practically heard symphonic harmonies from his movements.

She whispered to the one she new to be responsible for this miracle. "Thank you, Harry."

For Severus, her dear friend once filled with leaden bitterness, now had light in his soul and music in his heart.

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A/N: 621 hits/59 Kudos in less than 24 hours! Thank you all so much! :-)

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Top stories from this writer are in the Unbearable series.


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